The smart folks over at the SINTEF Research Institute in Norway as well as at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology are currently working to send a new kind of exploration robot to Mars. Aksel Transeth, who happens to be a senior research scientist at SINTEF, have teamed up with some of his colleagues, and they are conducting a feasibility study for the European Space Agency, with the intention of using a snake robot to examine more of the red planet.
Transeth mentioned, “We started the study back in June and will finish sometime in December. The study is more like a written report than it is a series of experiments. However, the ideas on paper could make its way into a prototype within a few months.” Basically, the whole idea of making snake-like robots on earth to be more efficient is to help out in search and rescue missions, and who knows, it might actually prove itself to be of some value in Mars as it goes around nooks and crannies, gleaning additional information on how Mars has changed over the years as a planet. Needless to say, such efforts are still in its infancy, and there is plenty more work left to do.
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